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Sunnyland.
Does it exist? What does it mean? Where are its boundaries? Is it a town or an area?
Having lived in Sunnyland since age 5, I am proud to be called a Sunnylander. There are happy memories for me there.
So, often when I hear that Sunnyland doesn’t exist, I get a little annoyed considering I’ve spent more than 30 years of my life there.
However, I understand the confusion most people have about Sunnyland, even the locals.
We have East Peoria police and garbage service, but our children go to Washington Community High School. Our mailing addresses are Washington, but those of us with landline phones don’t have a 444 prefix for a Washington number.
In other words, it seems to be a gray area.
There is evidence of Sunnyland’s existence throughout town on business signs and there is a group called the Sunnyland Business Association. Last month, I even noticed an obituary in the newspaper with a Sunnyland dateline.
But this just wasn’t good enough for my inquisitive mind. I needed to know more, so I met with a group of long-time locals.
Dave Marshall, Dennis Friend, Jack Knight and Susan (Rennau) Knight all grew up in Sunnyland and attended Washington Community High School.
As soon as the foursome, who are all in their 60s, settled in at Eysal’s Coffee shop, they immediately began reminiscing about the glory days of their youth.
They talked of simpler times, a time when they played outside all day.
Dennis said they had free movies outside at Oliver Thomas ballpark.
The boys played baseball there and in many fields when Sunnyland had more farms.
Dennis said one local farmer used to put up a sign to warn them of slaughter time so they wouldn’t play baseball then because he thought it might bother them.
Jack and the others attended Sundoer School, which was located on Theodore Street. It is now an apartment building. After school, Jack walked to Norbits Tavern where he had a running tab for chili dogs and milkshakes. It seems strange today to hear of a young boy hanging out at a bar.
Dennis and Dave had paper routes and Dennis baled hay at Ankabar Farms.
According to a book called, “A Bicentennial Salute to Sunnyland” printed in 1976, Ankabar Acres (along Centennial Drive near Quail Meadows Golf Course) was a horse farm from approximately 1932-72. The farm had a world champion horse named Ankabar.
Sunnyland.
Does it exist? What does it mean? Where are its boundaries? Is it a town or an area?
Having lived in Sunnyland since age 5, I am proud to be called a Sunnylander. There are happy memories for me there.
So, often when I hear that Sunnyland doesn’t exist, I get a little annoyed considering I’ve spent more than 30 years of my life there.
However, I understand the confusion most people have about Sunnyland, even the locals.
We have East Peoria police and garbage service, but our children go to Washington Community High School. Our mailing addresses are Washington, but those of us with landline phones don’t have a 444 prefix for a Washington number.
In other words, it seems to be a gray area.
There is evidence of Sunnyland’s existence throughout town on business signs and there is a group called the Sunnyland Business Association. Last month, I even noticed an obituary in the newspaper with a Sunnyland dateline.
But this just wasn’t good enough for my inquisitive mind. I needed to know more, so I met with a group of long-time locals.
Dave Marshall, Dennis Friend, Jack Knight and Susan (Rennau) Knight all grew up in Sunnyland and attended Washington Community High School.
As soon as the foursome, who are all in their 60s, settled in at Eysal’s Coffee shop, they immediately began reminiscing about the glory days of their youth.
They talked of simpler times, a time when they played outside all day.
Dennis said they had free movies outside at Oliver Thomas ballpark.
The boys played baseball there and in many fields when Sunnyland had more farms.
Dennis said one local farmer used to put up a sign to warn them of slaughter time so they wouldn’t play baseball then because he thought it might bother them.
Jack and the others attended Sundoer School, which was located on Theodore Street. It is now an apartment building. After school, Jack walked to Norbits Tavern where he had a running tab for chili dogs and milkshakes. It seems strange today to hear of a young boy hanging out at a bar.
Dennis and Dave had paper routes and Dennis baled hay at Ankabar Farms.
According to a book called, “A Bicentennial Salute to Sunnyland” printed in 1976, Ankabar Acres (along Centennial Drive near Quail Meadows Golf Course) was a horse farm from approximately 1932-72. The farm had a world champion horse named Ankabar.
During the winter, Dennis learned to ice skate on a creek and the other men talked about sledding and throwing snowballs.
“It was a good place to grow up,” Dave said.
But where did they grow up? Back to the question: What is Sunnyland? According to research that Dave did at the Tazewell County Recorder of Deeds office, Sunnyland was a subdivision, not a town.
In 1936, a 90-acre farm west of town was sold and was to be called Sunnyland, according to the “History of Washington 1825-1975.”
The original plat for Sunnyland, according to Dave’s research, consisted of Loren, Esser, Albert, Berry, Theodore, Pleasant and Woodlawn streets.
According to the bicentennial book, the original Sunnyland was Loren, Albert, Berry, Theodore and Pleasant.
There were many other subdivision plats that were established around this time in the same area. So, how did the area become Sunnyland?
“Through no official action, the area kept expanding and people kept calling it Sunnyland,” Dave said.
I’ve always considered Sunnyland’s boundaries to be from Cherry Lane to School Street. I double-checked my theory with Dave, who agreed.
Dave gave me a typed sheet with his memories of Sunnyland. He mentioned businesses and people that stuck with him over the years.
One of these people was Wayne Rennau, Susan’s father. Wayne had a Spudnuts doughnut shop and was the local barber. He also opened a pool hall, where Susan later met Jack.
“He also was more than a business person to us as he talked to the kids and probably mentored more of us than he realized,” Dave said.
Others he mentioned were the Burtons, who had a candy business on Albert Street and made “the most wonderful peanut brittle;” Mariane Freeman, a local carpenter, who owned a saw mill on School Street; Bill Maher, who had a drugstore in town; and Lester and Ethel Gould, who had Gould’s Variety for many years.
Some of these I remember and some I don’t as each generation cherishes different people and businesses that made up the town when they were young.
Despite our difference in age, we all have one thing in common — when people ask us where we’re from, we say Sunnyland.
Jeanette Kendall is executive editor at TimesNewspapers.
